Gun Control

Gun Control has been a major issue in our country today. There have been a lot of violence going on in the world that involves guns, especially in schools because there is no gun control. No kid should be worried about getting killed in their schools. A lot of people have their opinions on how they feel about gun control and whether the second amendment should be taken away or not. Gun Control should be put in place to stop the violence in schools all over the world.

According to Campus Safety Magazine, there were 82 school shooting incidents in 2018. That’s the highest amount of school shooting incidents since 1970. Also from 1970 to now, there has been 1,300 school shooting incidents. Just to name a few popular schools out of many that have been affected by school shootings are Columbine High School (15 people died and 21 people were injured), Sandy Hook Elementary School (28 people died and 2 were injured), and one of the most recent ones Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland Shooting) (which 17 people died and 14 people were injured). According to CNN, Parkland and Sandy Hook have been listed among 10 of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S history. Days after the Parkland shooting, Students, faculty and parents that are grieving the loss of their kids, friends class members were determined to make their voices heard. They all traveled to the White House to speak with the president about gun control. 18 year old Meadow Pollack was one of the many casualties that was killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Shooting. Her father Andrew Pollack was one of many parents to take the trip to the White House and said this to President Donald Trump “We as a country failed our children, I can’t go to an airport with a bottle of water but we can just let an ‘animal’ walk into a school and shoot our kids. It’s just not right. We need to come together as a country and work on what’s most important. And that is protecting our children in the schools. That’s the only thing that matters right now. It’s simple.” Pollack also states “I’m very angry because this keeps happening. 9/11 happened once, and they fixed everything. How many schools? How many children have to get shot? It stops here with this administration and me. I’m not going to sleep till this is fixed.” Pollack has since met with many lawmakers to pass the law "Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act” and is working for this law to be made in every state. 18 year old David Hogg survived the shooting and has become an activist for Gun Control and even rallied students together for the March For Our Lives Campaign. Hoggs has also met with President Trump and many senators from all around the world. Ever since the Parkland shooting, students from the school, parents, and people all around the world are making their voices heard and are making changes to the world today.

People might argue that people have the right to own guns due to their second amendment right. According to Gun Violence Archive as of 2019, there has been 14,439 incidents involving guns. There has been 3,870 deaths involving guns. We aren’t even 6 months into 2019 and this is the amount of violence going in the United States. I’m not saying people shouldn’t be able to own guns, but people need to do background checks on the people that are trying to purchase guns. According to Kaiser Health News, about 60 percent of mass shooters have a history of serious mental disorders and two-thirds had never been seen by a mental health professional. One example of this is Nikolas Cruz. He was 19 years old who was responsible for all the lives that were and injuries at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He was able to purchase a gun even though he mentally ill. He even proceeded to post multiple pictures on his Instagram of him with multiple guns on him before the shooting. Someone also reported him and his page to the FBI, in which they ignored the report because they get so many of these types of reports. FBI apologized after the fact but if they looked at the reports, the whole shooting probably wouldn’t of happened. This family has a criminal and violent past throughout his life, and yet Nikolas Cruz was able to purchase a gun. People that are either mentally ill or have a criminal or violent past should not be able to purchase a gun.

Gun Control needs to put in place so we can avoid the shootings not only in schools, but all over the world. People lives are tragically be taken away due to the actions of individuals that own guns. According to BBC News as of 2016, there has been more than 90 mass shootings in the United States since 1982. When are the shootings going to stop? Incident lives are being taken away due to gun violence and it needs to stop NOW. Action needs to be taken place now or else more lives are going to be taken. Laws need to be made so the violence can stop. And that’s all up to us. We as adults and the youth of America all need to vote. We need to start voting for the right senators and the right people that are running for congress that are willing to laws in place to stop the gun violence. We also got to fight to pass Universal Background checks all around to the world to stop the wrong people from getting guns. If you want to sign the petition and if you want to learn how to stop gun violence and be a part of the change, go to MarchForOurLives.com. It’s time for the youth vote to stand up to the gun lobby when no one else will. We can stop this together. Stop the Violence. Never Forget.

Bibliography

Ahmed, Saeed. “Parkland Shooting Is Now among the 10 Deadliest Mass Shootings in Modern US History.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 Feb. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/health/parkland-among-deadliest-mass-shootings-trnd/index.html.

Staff, CS. “The K-12 School Shooting Statistics Everyone Should Know.” Campus Safety Magazine, Campus Safety, 23 Jan. 2019, www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/k-12-school-shooting-statistics-everyone-should-know/.

“12 Gun Control Articles to Support Your Argumentative Essay.” Kibin Blog, 8 Apr. 2018, www.kibin.com/essay-writing-blog/12-gun-control-articles-for-argumentative-essay/.

“Gun Violence Archive.” Gun Violence Archive, www.gunviolencearchive.org/.

Waters, Rob. “Gun Control Vs. Mental Health Care: Debate After Mass Shootings Obscures Murky Reality.” Kaiser Health News, 19 Nov. 2018, khn.org/news/gun-control-vs-mental-health-care-debate-after-mass-shootings-obscures-murky-reality/.